IN the last four years, Michael Osborn, a 50-year-old Laguna Beach marketing consultant, has flown to 14 countries for business and pleasure. He is always accompanied by Hastings, his 75-pound yellow Labrador. Hastings has been the perfect traveler, Osborn says, spending much of every flight dozing under his master's seat. Osborn hopes things can stay that way, but like other fliers who rely on guide dogs, he is wary of some proposed changes to the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986.

A recent rash of equipment malfunctions that delayed hundreds of flights and nearly caused accidents prompted Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Thursday to call for a federal investigation of Los Angeles-area aviation control systems. She also called on the Bush administration to allocate more funding for airport and airline security equipment, including chemical-explosive detectors and reinforced aircraft cargo holds.

When she boards the train each workday, Lorraine Martinez looks around for suspicious packages and passengers behaving strangely. Martinez, an office clerk, said she's become more attentive in recent months. She's among the thousands of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees enlisted to keep a watchful eye on public transit. "Everybody's got a safety responsibility here," said Roger Snoble, the MTA's chief executive.

Top Los Angeles International Airport officials Monday publicly questioned whether the Federal Aviation Administration was adequately maintaining its air traffic control equipment after a key landing system malfunctioned, the fourth mishap in less than a month. "Enough is enough," said Frank Clark, executive director of the nonprofit organization that represents airlines operating at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Two small airliners on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport came within moments of colliding earlier this week after a malfunctioning system designed to alert controllers to potential collisions was partially disabled. The pilot of one of the planes, which was taking off, averted disaster by pulling up suddenly -- risking a stall -- to avoid a regional jet that had just landed and strayed onto its runway.

Years of efforts to improve runway safety at Los Angeles International Airport have failed to reduce close calls between airplanes on its four busy runways, a Times review of federal records shows. Millions of dollars have been spent to install signs and paint markings on the airfield to guide pilots as they navigate the closely spaced runways. Maps have been created for pilots to highlight danger spots.

THAT plane you're flying on may have been assembled in America, but where was it last serviced? Increasingly, the answer is this: not in the airline's hangars and maybe not even in this country. Outsourcing of repairs and maintenance is spreading through the cash-strapped airline industry. Carriers that outsource say they save money, achieve quicker turnarounds and get higher-quality work by hiring contractors who specialize in servicing jets. U.S.

Two aircraft came too close to each other for the seventh time this year at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday morning when a Cessna Caravan crossed a runway on the south side where an American Airlines Boeing 757 was preparing to take off. The incident was the latest in a string of close calls between jets at the airport that started May 23. Since then, the airport has logged more runway violations than in all of 2004, a pattern officials said has a historical precedent.

Alarmed about a surge in train accidents across California, state officials unveiled an ambitious plan Thursday to improve railroad safety and fill a void, they say, in federal enforcement of industry regulations. Meeting in San Francisco, the California Public Utilities Commission endorsed the plan and its 21 recommendations that affect a wide range of rail operations, such as grade crossings and tank cars that carry hazardous materials.

Just 40% of children ages 4 to 8 ride in car safety seats or booster seats at least occasionally, a new survey has found, meaning that most children risk being thrown from the car in the case of an accident. The study shows that many people who drive with children do not have booster seats and feel the risk is acceptable because they are making only short trips.